The Fall
by Frondz
Summary: Tradgedy occurs in the Forests of Tethyr, providing an alternate end to the Saga..


They were coming.  
  
Branches and ferns were hurriedly parted aside until an armored half-elven woman and a cowled human male entered the clearing.   
  
Both of them were out of breath, the human, ironically, seemed to be in better condition than his companion. They had both been running for what seemed an eternity.   
  
After several moments of breathing, the half-elf risked a glance towards the human.  
  
"This situation appears.. most hopeless, does it not, Carne?"  
  
"Always the cheerful optimist, aren't we Jaheira?" Carne responded with a casual smirk, despite the situation.   
  
Jaheira's face regarded her lover with false contempt as she tried to force back a smile, "And you wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
Carne's response was silenced by the breaking of tree branches and underbrush, a distant chorus that barely dimmed the cacophony of various yells that tried to ascertain their location.  
  
Yaga-Shura was indeed a grueling task-master who drove his soldiers to find /i quarry.  
  
The shock of the ambush was only now beginning to register. Jaheira and himself were the only survivors.  
  
For the first time, Carne felt relieved with his decision to force Imoen to remain behind.   
  
Jaheira's voice was barely a whisper, the poignant seriousness of the tone enough to banish the Bhaalspawn's personal introspectives.   
  
"Are.. are.. we just going to keep running away?"  
  
They were closer now, he had noticed the sounds of movement dying down considerably, though it was still quite noticeable.   
  
Carne's fingers tightened around his staff as his eyes narrowed beneath his cowl. "No.. not this time. I will stave off their ranks, I wish for you to slip away in the chaos."  
  
Jaheira's expression became grim and forboding as she glared at Carne, "No, you will not. I will stay with you until the end, no matter the outcome."  
  
The sorcerer's lips twisted into a thin smile, "I knew it pointless to ask, but decided to at least attempt the effort. So be it then, we will stand together.."  
  
His voice tremored in tone with the resonance of a thousand marching footsteps.  
  
".. and we shall fall together."  
  
The first ranks of soldiers breaking through the underbrush suddenly scattered, the unfortunates screaming in agony as they were being immolated with a subtle, arcing wave of Carne's forearm.  
  
Jaheira brought her shield up to bear as a heavy bastard sword came crashing down. The owner let out a choking cough as she neatly slid her scimitar between his ribs, artfully stepping to the side to let the soldier fall to the ground.  
  
Assorted battle cries burst out from the enemy ranks, serving as a focal point of great interest.  
  
Several more soldiers advanced on the druid as her eyes darted around the clearing.  
  
They were surrounded.  
  
Numerous blades coming from a number of directions clashed into the Jaheira's shield, causing her to wince against each impact. She was suddenly jarred into reality when a long sword was deflected away from her neck by a now-dented shoulder plate.  
  
Suddenly pushing her foes off of her, Jaheira slashed violently at the nearest. The mercenary fell to his knees, blood spurting from his throat. Another was attempting to dance about with a shortsword and leathers, he was barely able to hold together his entrails as he fell with a violent slash. Moments later, as the druid was using her bootheel on the shoulder of another foe currently impaled on her blade, she barely bit back a cry of pain as a blade was thrust into her lower back and twisted, causing her to stumble and almost loose balance.  
  
Carne turned around without hesitation, his dark eyes glaring in hatred as his opened palm reduced the attacker to naught but a smoldering heap.   
  
Jaheira regained her balance, cringing momentarily. They both exchanged a wordless glance before the druid regarded her shield in disgust. It was bent and twisted beyond immediate repair. She threw it to the ground and sheathed her scimitar, drawing an elongated spear from the hooks strapped to her back.  
  
The druid charged the enemy ranks in the name of Silvanus.  
  
The sorcerer hardly batted an eyelash as volley after volley of arrows splintered and shattered against his protective spells. Conjuring a raging sphere of flame, he shaped it to his liking before flinging his wrist in the opposite direction.  
  
Carne felt the heat before he heard the screams.  
  
The atmosphere was permeated with the coppy tang of both magic and blood, though it somewhow intermingled with that of scorched flesh and burning hair. The stench was not the only signiture of combat, armored corpses lay either smoldering or bleeding, a wide swathe having been cut into the entirety of Yaga-Shura's ruthless army.  
  
Jaheira twisted and danced artfully in the ensuing chaos, shrugging off the various strikes that somehow found themselves beneath her armor. Even as the druid began to display the obvious signs of weakening and fatigue, the approaching soldiers gave her an obvious berth. Occasionally, one would grow more brave than his fellows and break the cautious ranks that surrounded her. The druid now trained the sharpened tip of her spear on a rather ambitious soldier with a long sword, who deflected a thrust aimed at his chest with a low strike from his blade. The half-elf deftly flipped the polearm in the opposite direction, impaling the victim through the chin.  
  
She struggled to withdraw her spear from the soldier's helmeted face, and several more broke the ranks to grasp hold of the oppurtunity. The first stroke came from a mercenary donning chainmail and a weighted iron mace, the bludgeoning weapon shattering evreything below the druid's shoulder.   
  
The second was even less merciful, delivered by a half-orc brandishing a heavy blade suited to his build. Jaheira spurted a dry cough as the blade slipped beneath her breastplate before being withdrawn for a final strike.  
  
It never came.   
  
The half-orc's eager grin lay forever etched upon his face, the decapitated head landing several feet from its owner.  
  
Jaheira brandished her bloodstained scimitar in one hand, knocking away and blocking strikes as she feebly attempted to disengage.   
  
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =  
  
Carne began to feel weaker with each movement, with each thought. It was only matter of time before his protective spells wore thin and were shattered.  
  
When he finally noticed Jaheira stumbling towards him, his eyes were suddenly alight with horror. "No.. no.. Jaheira.. no.."  
  
The soldiers had stopped advancing for the time being, noticing the line of burning undergrowth.  
  
Jaheira turned and smiled feebly at the sorcerer before her steps faltered, forcing her to fall forward into Carne's arms. He gently lowered her to the ground, feeling heat drip through the back of her ragged tunic. "No.. this.. Jaheira.. please.."  
  
She looked up at him and smiled weakly, her strength seeping away with evrey ragged breath. The druid's hand reached up to caress his face.. only coming halfway before slowly descending in the other direction.  
  
His hand slowly drifted across Jaheira's face, feeling the countours of her lips as tears attempted to force themselves to the surface.   
  
iNow, Carne, you must remember to always shape the energies into applicable forms. Not doing would be unpredictable and dangerous, not only to yourself, but to those around you, /i Gorion's voice had once spoken, a voice he hadn't heard since the night he was slain.  
  
iBut father, I thought you said my gift wasn't.. logical? That I wouldn't have to study in order to gain benefit?/i He had been a frustrated child of thirteen seasons, unwilling to study and eager for unearned results.  
  
iYour.. gift.. /i The words had been said with a mixture of pity and resentment that had made him curious, but not enough to evoke a question i.. allows you to draw upon yourself to cast spells, but you must still know how to use that gift.iAlright.. I guess I understand, father. I'll get back to my studies, then./i Reluctant acceptance.  
  
iHrmm.. perhaps. But come now, there will be time for that tomarrow. Let's go sit in the gardens and watch the fountains./i   
  
The conversation drifted off into the recesses of Carne's consciousness before he reawoke to the brimming chaos around him.  
  
As the sorcerer rose, his eyes brimmed with an eerie illuminesense of determination and sorrow. Evreything seemed to slow down around him, the movements of the charging soldiers, the archers notching arrows to their bows, the fallen jostling with evrey step of the enormous warmachine that seemed to be a single entity.  
  
/i  
  
He was brimming with the power that had made him at times both a savior and an abomination.  
  
i"Are.. are.. we just going to keep running away?"/i  
  
Something within the recesses of his mind screamed as if being torn assunder.  
  
i"I will stay with you until the end, no matter the outcome."/i  
  
Carne knew what it was and it begged a halt to this transgression. He acted as if he didn't hear it, or simply as if he didn't care.  
  
i"Now, Carne, you must remember to always shape the energies into applicable forms. Not doing would be unpredictable and dangerous, not only to yourself, but to those around you.."/i  
  
He felt the presense, the taint attempt to delay the inevitable by staying his hand. He had learned long ago that dead gods held little sway.  
  
It didn't matter any longer.  
  
i".. and we shall fall together."/i  
  
Carne let out a scream of rage as he felt a sudden and great release lifted from his shoulders. The presense spread rapidly in a blinding flash of light that permeated the area with little remorse.  
  
When the light faded, Yaga-Shura's army was still standing. Several had attempted to flee, others had observed in awe. Most had little understanding of what was actually occuring.  
  
All were entombed within stone.   
  
Statues decorated the landscape, rank and file, evrey last soldier frozen for eternity in his death throes.  
  
Carne finally opened his only partially and blinked at the adjustment of light. He glanced upwards towards the sun setting over the canopy of leaves above and lost his footing before falling to lay beside Jaheira's still form.   
  
The forest remained untouched. 


End file.
